Painted legs and one peepee

Merlin sitting on the bush

I put on mama's socks

Carmel sitting in my lap! More lap!

The other day we were over at Cheryl and Jordan's house for dinner and playing and hanging. A lovely Friday evening hang out. The girls painted together. It was Johari's first time painting and she really liked it. She also tried eating the paint. I figured she would take a lick of it and not like it. But she repeatedly put the brush in her mouth to check it out. She ended up having this goth look with a ring of dark green paint around her lips, she already has the dark eyes, and dark paint all over her hands. Later in the evening the girls enjoyed painting all of our legs and feet. We went to bed with painted legs and ended up enjoying checking them out and showing them off in the morning.
Yesterday we went on this lovely walk along the water in West Seattle. It was sunny and gorgeous. We ended up at a cafe and then the kiddos got to play on the beach. I was able to jog the couple miles back to the get the car. That felt good because I have really been wanting to get back to some running.

Holding hands with Jordan on the walk

Johari likes to serve her imaginary apples and bananas. The apples got hot yesterday. How do I know? Because she started blowing on them before she gives them to me so that I don't burn my mouth. Very considerate of her. She is almost always ready to cook you some apple. She loves that word.

Last week she found my old manual breast pump. While Ceci was here, Johari learned about pumping nyo-nyo's. She even made up a sign for it where she bumps her forehead and says pump nyo-nyo. So she was glad to find that we have a pump. She took it to the bedroom where she works on pumping her own nyo-nyo's. It looks more like she is pumping her belly button.

Johari went peepee on her potty for the first time last night. It was cool. It took several times of her signing that she wanted to go to the potty trying and not depositing anything in the pot before she relaxed to let it go. Good beginning to thinking about it and communicating about it. No pressure to make it happen though.

Taking off the cradle cap and dipping in the pool

Yesterday, I finally decided to try to comb off Johari's cradle cap. I had always thought that it was something that would eventually just go away. For those of you without babes, it is a scaly substance on their scalp, nothing disgusting just like brown flaky stuff. I couldn't really believe that she still had it on her scalp. I thought it was a baby thang! She's no baby anymore. But Ceci informed that you really have to oil it and comb it off their scalp or else it keeps perpetuating itself. So I guess she would have gone to college with cradle cap if it weren't for the grace of Ceci's info. :) I am sure she thanks you, Ceci!
Last evening, we got out of the house to go play at the mall playground. She seemed sleepy on the way there but had a nice time. She is more adventurous. She is getting better at climbing on the stuff on her own. She still one's a helping hand some of the time, but she seems to be getting more and more confident. She also said that any piece that she was on was "mine!". She didn't easily want to let other kids get on her space on any of the play sculptures. She is establishing the world as hers right now. It's Johari's world and we are all just living in it. :) She also shared. She has both sides of it going. The compassion and the autonomy. One older boy pushed her a little and called her 'stupid', but it didn't seem to phase her.
I have been reading this book called 'Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves' by Naomi Aldort. I think it is a great book! It has taught me much about a child's psychology. About their need to be able to have autonomy and have a supported and guided outlet of strong emotions. And about how much of our trying to stop this outlet is our own discomfort with the feelings. It is a very powerful and compassionate perspective on parenting. I highly recommend the book to parents and teachers and those that interact with children and teenagers regularly.
This morning, we went to an indoor swimming pool. The place had a toddler section to their swimming poll which is awesome. Full of things to play with and a geyser and a sprinkler. Johari had a wonderful time. She fell under early on while chasing a ball and didn't get phased by it after I scooped her out. She enjoyed herself until she got too cold and we had to go. The water was relatively warm for about an hour and then she got chilly.

A beautiful day at the Zoo and a yoga class together

Yesterday, we went to the zoo. It was a gorgeous day. Sun was shining. We met Cheryl and Jordan there and Grandma and Grandpa came along too. It was a family affair. We saw a giraffe mama and her giraffe child necking and being affectionate with one another. It was super sweet to see. We walked around and saw many animals and then we ate lunch in the crowd of the zoo cafeteria. It was a very nice day.
In the evening, Ariel came over for dinner. It was great to see her. Johari was digging her and really enjoyed playing and teasing her and getting gotten by Ariel.
Today, we tried a mama and tot yoga class in Seattle. Johari really had a great time. She didn't do much yoga but she played a whole lot and was very outgoing. She would venture out to play without me quite a bit and then come and check back in with me eventually. I got to do some yoga so maybe we will try to do that class with some kind of regularity. Good times for mama and Johari, can't go wrong there.
Johari's bottom incisors are coming up and cutting through. So soon she will have her full toothy smile grown in.
I did a bit of research because of the constant info of the horrors of plastics...to find a metal sippy. And I got one that I think is pretty cool. It is seems to be well made. And they have another one with a straw as well.

Although they sell these at some Target stores, they do not put it in the baby stuff. It kind of irks me because then no one will ever run across them while shopping for a good sippy. It is in the sporting goods water bottle section!
More Johari updates....she can now walk down the few little steps in front of the house without holding a hand or onto anything. She loves to play pretend now. She pretends to prepare food for people. As soon as she gives you the imaginary food, she eagerly asks if you want more. She loves to keep supplying people with more and more of her tasty morsels.

A wonderful visit from Ceci and Mia

Snoozing after good times

The Crew out to breakfast

Holding hands...

Sista Swing

Stroller ride together

Mia drives them through the streets of Ghana

Mia drives them through the streets of Japan

Time for Johari to help with driving

Sista bath fun

Who can get the dolla to the music man

Who is really having the most fun at the Children's library?

We had a wonderful visit with Ceci and Mia. The girls clicked with no hesitation. They played and played and played. And held hands. And Johari loved to sit on Mia's lap in the stroller. Mia helped Johari take off her shoes and socks and coat when we came in the house. We went to a couple children's museums while they were here. And Pike Place Market. And the children's library at the main Seattle library. We had a great time together. The girls chomped on cheddar bunny crackers the whole way. They would hold hands while riding in their car seats some of the time. I love to see all the hand holding. It is such a sweet connection.

Walking Lola

Johari walking Lola today... Luckily since Lola is so very old and slow, she is the perfect speed for Johari to hold her leash. Lola is not about to take off with lightning speed anywhere. Johari was in bliss being able to walk Lola on her own. What could be better...independence and taking care of a dog!!!

winding it up in mexico

Blog 4 February 2008
We spent the last few days alternating between the swimming pool in Coba and the beach in Tulum. But today, our last day, we didn’t do any water event. It is hard to be sure but I think that a few times throughout the day when Johari has signed ‘water’ she has meant that she wanted to go to the swimming pool or the beach. We did go out to see some peccaries (a furry pig-like animal).
The other day when we were at the pool I was trying to teach Johari to blow bubbles in the water. At first she was opening up to get a scoop of water in her mouth, but as she inspected and touched my bubble blowing she started to get it a little more. It is a blowing process not a scooping process. We can practice more in the bathtub when we get back home.
Words are coming more quickly. Verbal ones and signing ones. And it seems like the Signing Time DVDs help with both of these categories. It is very cool to see her ability to communicate increase.
Johari and I talked a bit about cow’s milk versus mama’s milk the other day. That was about the extent of it with experiences of each one. So now a couple of times when she has a cup of milk she says and signs ‘cow’ and signs ‘milk’. We can start talking about where things come from and how things are related.
We had lunch at Zamas, a nice restaurant on the beach, yesterday for my dad’s birthday. There we found a handmade doll for Johari. The doll is a mama doll and has a baby doll. But the best part is that the mama doll has nyo-nyo’s aka breasts. But not only does this mama doll have breasts but she has snaps for nipples. And the baby doll has the other part of the snap as a mouth. Snap on nursing!!!! The mama also has hands that snap together to hug her baby. The PERFECT doll for Johari. But sometimes it seems she prefers to give the baby her own nyo-nyo’s rather than snapping it on to the mama doll.
Just before we were leaving Zamas, I noticed these guys behind us kept having this bright green drink. I inquired about it. It was a Chaya licuado. Chaya is a local green that is supposed to have great health benefits. So I had to try it out for myself. Just water and chaya greens. First Johari wanted to try it and she really liked it! What a surprise. Then I got some sips in. It was mild and almost citrus-y. I thought it would be strong greens flavor but it was pleasant and refreshing. Anybody know of some chaya growing in the Seattle area. :)
I woke up the other morning thinking about India. Imagining getting to India and spending some time there. We have been watching parts of the movie “Monsoon Wedding” in the mornings to help with me being able to comb out Johari’s hair. (By the way, her hair is back to needing product and attention. The humidity when we arrived has subsided.) Sometimes the distraction works so that she doesn’t notice the combing much and sometimes it doesn’t. So images of India have been in my mind and it is a place that I have wanted to get to eventually. Hopefully Johari and I will be able to check it out one day.
Johari figured out the shadow thing the other night. So it is not so scary anymore and she can make her own shadow creatures.